Page 71 of Waitress at the Shadow Ridge Inn
“I was there the night of the Halloween party. I knew she was pursuing Henry; he was one of those who’d spoken to Dax and asked to be reassigned to another team because of her unprofessional advances. I saw the way she was looking at you and Henry, and it sent chills down my spine. I admit, I felt relief when she stormed out. I think everyone did.
“Then, you didn’t show up for work the following Monday, and my mind immediately went to dark places.
“It was no secret that you and Angela shared an apartment. I asked Angela if you were ill, and she said no, that you two had an argument and you were staying at a friend’s. She wouldn’t say who. She was lying. I knew it, but I couldn’t prove it.
“As the day went on, more people asked about you. Angela became more agitated. Eventually, she asked to leave early so she could go to the police and file a report.
“Several hours later, I was on my way home when I saw her pulling out from the entrance of that wooded nature hiking trail along 287. It seemed like an odd place for her to be, given that it had been storming for two days. I pulled off farther down the road, grabbed a hooded slicker, and doubled back on foot. I can’t explain why I did it. All I can say is, I felt compelled to do so.
“Anyway, I was wandering around the trail, questioning my own sanity, and that’s when I spotted you in the ditch below. I don’t think I would have realized what I was looking at if I hadn’t been searching specifically for you. I rushed down as quickly as I could and dragged you out. I thought you were dead. You were so cold. I did the Heimlich anyway. You started coughing and breathing again, and that’s when I called 911.”
I recalled the excruciating pain. The fierce squeezing. The hooded figure in black looming over me.
“But you didn’t identify yourself. You didn’t stick around. Why?”
He looked down at his hands. “Because I thought they’d think I’d had something to do with what happened to you.”
I opened my mouth to protest, then shut it. Hadn’t I thought exactly the same thing? I’d believed my abductor was a man. The man in black who spoke to me in my nightmares. That was what I’d told the police, wasn’t it?
“That’s what you thought, isn’t it?” he prompted. “I saw the look in your eyes that night. You were terrified. You had no idea what was happening. You thoughtIwas the one who’d done that to you.”
My silence was my confirmation.
He sighed. “And I couldn’t prove otherwise. While I waited for help to arrive, I ran through various scenarios in my mind, and I knew it didn’t look good for me. I’d gone home alone after the party that night. No one could verify my whereabouts. I was the one who found you in an isolated section of the woods, but only after attention had been drawn to the fact that you were missing.
“I didn’t give Angela enough credit. I think she knew I had been looking out for you. She must have also known I suspected she was lying about where you were. Hell, she might have even waited for me on that stretch of road, knowing I’d see her there and investigate.”
He laughed sarcastically. “I walked right into it. She was framing me, and there was nothing I could say that would prove otherwise. So … as soon as the paramedics arrived, I disappeared.”
Again with the proof.
“Angela kept her head down for a while. She did a good job, playing the part of the dutiful friend and roommate, but I knew better. Then, you left, and Angie … changed.”
“Changed how?”
“Her performance improved, as did her behavior in and around the office.”
I felt his words like a blade to the heart. It was hard, hearing that you were the bane of someone’s existence and how much better their life was without you in it. On those occasions I’d called her, she’d seemed happy. Now, I knew it was only because I hadn’t been around.
“She told me you two were involved,” I said.
He shook his head, then winced and closed his eyes. “Sorry,” he said apologetically when he opened them again. “I keep forgetting not to do that.”
I felt a stab of sympathy for him. He had put some of the pieces in place for me, but there was still more I was missing.
“How did you end up in Shadow Ridge?” I asked.
“I suspected Angie was in contact with you. She couldn’t afford to lose track of you completely. What if your memories began to return? I knew you wouldn’t be safe. So I called on a friend of mine, one who knew something about covert surveillance.”
“So that much was true,” I murmured, then explained, “Angie said you’d hired a PI to keep tabs on me.”
His eyes widened. “Notyou, Casey,” Aaron corrected. “Her.”
I shook my head, confused. “I don’t understand. She showed me images on her phone, pictures she said she’d taken from your laptop. She said you’d been keeping tabs on me all along.”
“I wasn’t, but apparently, she was.”
After the past week, I didn’t think I would hear anything that would shock me more than what I’d already learned. I was wrong.
